The April 2010 issue of Needle Tips has just been
placed online at
http://www.immunize.org/nt This issue features IAC's newly revised
"Summary of Recommendations for Childhood and Adolescent Immunization" and
"Summary of Recommendations for Adult Immunization."

Here are some of the features included in the issue:

Ask the Experts

Vaccine Highlights

Summary of Recommendations for Childhood
and Adolescent Immunization

Summary of Recommendations for Adult
Immunization

Talking with Parents about Vaccines for
Infants, a resource from CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the
American Academy of Family Physicians

Reliable Sources of Immunization
Information

Standing Orders for Administering HPV
Vaccine

Guide to Contraindications and Precautions
to Commonly Used Vaccines

On the Needle Tips web page, you will find a link
for displaying and printing the entire 24-page PDF of this issue. There is
also a table of contents for viewing and printing individual sections.

IAC updates "Summary of Recommendations for Childhood and
Adolescent Immunization" and "Summary of Recommendations
for Adult Immunization"

IAC recently updated its "Summary of
Recommendations for
Childhood and Adolescent Immunization" and "Summary of
Recommendations for Adult Immunization" to reflect the many
recent changes in vaccine licensures and recommendations.
Both summaries include the schedules for routine and catch-up vaccination, as well as contraindications and precautions
for all routinely recommended vaccines.

These provider resources consistently rank as the two most
popular IAC pieces, judging by number of downloads. If you
are not familiar with these pieces, check them out and see
why healthcare professionals have been relying on them for
more than 15 years!

IAC encourages qualifying healthcare
organizations to apply
for its Honor Roll for Patient Safety. Since March 8 when
IAC Express last reported on the Honor Roll for Patient
Safety, Moses Cone Health System (Greensboro, NC) has been
added to the honor roll. In addition, the "News and
Articles" section has been updated with a must-read
editorial that presents a strong case for making influenza
vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers. The honor roll
recognizes medical practices, hospitals, professional
organizations, and government entities that have taken a
stand for patient safety by strengthening mandatory
influenza vaccination policies for healthcare workers.

To be included in the honor roll, an organization's mandate
must require influenza vaccination for employees and must
include serious measures to prevent transmission of
influenza from unvaccinated workers to patients. Such
measures might include a mask requirement, reassignment to
non-patient-care duties, or dismissal of the employee.

To find out specific information on the mandates of the
enrolled organizations, go to: http://www.immunize.org/laws/influenzahcw.asp This web page
also includes information about how to apply to be included
on the honor roll.

IAC's Video of the Week features animated descriptions of
how immunization worksIAC encourages IAC Express readers to watch two
short
animated segments from the UK's National Health Service.
Each has a run time of less than two minutes and features
simple animated characters illustrating how immunization
protects individuals and the community.

The videos will be available on the home page of IAC's
website through April 25. To access either segment, go to:
http://www.immunize.org and click on the image under the
words Video of the Week. It may take a few moments for the
video to begin playing; please be patient!

Remember to bookmark IAC's home page to view a new video
every Monday. To view an IAC Video of the Week from the
past, go to the video archive at http://www.immunize.org/votw

AIM Provider Toolkit includes great resources to help you
vaccinate patients

The Alliance for Immunization in Michigan (AIM)
recently
announced the availability of its 2010 Providers
Immunization Toolkit for Children & Adults. Although some of
the included resources are Michigan-specific, most could be
useful to any U.S. immunization provider.

For example, AIM has developed a series of fact sheets
titled "A Quick Look at. . ." about the new and combination
vaccines that often generate confusion. To access the Quick
Look guides to rotavirus, DTaP, Td/Tdap, Pediarix, Pentacel,
Kinrix, and TIV/LAIV vaccines, visit
http://www.aimtoolkit.org/children_providerinfo.htm

To access the online version of the entire kit, go to:
http://www.aimtoolkit.org/adult_immun.htm Click on the
colored tab at the top of the page that corresponds to the
information you are seeking (e.g. "Children," "Adolescents,"
and so forth).

Pharmacists are now allowed to administer
immunizations in
all 50 states, and are playing an increasingly active role
in protecting individuals against vaccine-preventable
diseases. To aid pharmacists in this work, the American
Pharmacists Association (APhA) recently published "APhA's
Immunization Handbook."

"APhA's Immunization Handbook" was written by Lauren B.
Angelo, PharmD, MBA, who has taught APhA's Pharmacy-Based
Immunization Delivery certificate training program to
pharmacists across the nation. This spiral-bound book is a
concise reference for building a successful immunization
practice based on recommended standards of care.

To find out more about this new resource, or to order a
copy, go to http://www.pharmacist.com and type in the search
term Immunization Handbook.

Paul A. Offit, MD, is the chief of Infectious Diseases and
the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as the Maurice
R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and professor of
pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine.

Japanese encephalitis VISs for JE-VAX and Ixiaro vaccines
now available in five translations

Dated 3/1/10, the VISs for the JE-VAX and Ixiaro
Japanese
encephalitis vaccines are now available in Arabic, Chinese,
Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. IAC gratefully
acknowledges the California Department of Public Health,
Immunization Branch, for the translations.

To access the new translations of the VIS for JE-VAX
Japanese encephalitis vaccine, as well as this VIS in
English, go to:
http://www.immunize.org/vis/vis_japanese_encephalitis_jevax.asp

MMWR reports on recent U.S. influenza activity and
composition of 2010-11 influenza vaccine

CDC published "Update: Influenza Activity--United
States,
August 30, 2009-March 27, 2010, and Composition of the 2010-11 Influenza Vaccine" in the April 16 issue of MMWR. The
first paragraph is reprinted below.

The emergence and spread of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1)
virus resulted in substantial influenza activity in the
United States throughout the summer and fall months of 2009,
with activity peaking in late October. Activity declined
beginning in November 2009 but continued at lower levels
through March 2010. The 2009 H1N1 virus remained the
dominant circulating influenza virus throughout the season;
<1% of characterized viruses were seasonal influenza A (H1),
A (H3), and influenza B viruses. This report summarizes U.S.
influenza activity from August 30, 2009, the start of the
2009-10 influenza season, through March 27, 2010, and also
reports on the 2010-11 Northern Hemisphere influenza vaccine
strain selection.

PKIDs (Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases)
has
scheduled several webinars related to using social media to
advance health messages. The webinars are part of
Communications Made Easy, a PKIDs' program intended to help
immunization educators learn the ropes of social marketing
and traditional and social media.

"Communications Made Easy--Creating Social Marketing
Messages that Work" is scheduled for May 4 at 9:00AM Pacific
Time. Space is limited and pre-registration is recommended.
To register, go to: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/5o9axnt1hvjv

"Communications Made Easy--Twitter" is scheduled for May 6
at 9:00AM Pacific Time. Space is limited and pre-registration is recommended. To register, go to:
https://cc.readytalk.com/r/pvaln4ta4igm

"Communications Made Easy--Blogs" is scheduled for May 11 at
9:00AM Pacific Time. Space is limited and pre-registration
is recommended. To register, go to:
https://cc.readytalk.com/r/1xlf94ovp6oe

"Communications Made Easy--Facebook" is scheduled for May 18
at 9:00AM Pacific Time. Space is limited and pre-registration is recommended. To register, go to:
https://cc.readytalk.com/r/gm5uyi9tanbg

This website is supported in part by a cooperative agreement from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (Grant No.
6NH23IP22550) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA. The website content is the sole responsibility of IAC and does not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.